


A Little More Conversation, A Little Less Action

by leonhart_17



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 09:52:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonhart_17/pseuds/leonhart_17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*twoshot* Arizona is especially honest when on pain killers. And a little giggly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Calliope Torres had just scrubbed out of surgery and was changing into clean scrubs when her phone rang in her locker. She pulled her shirt down over her head and one hand scrambled blindly for the cell phone. “This is Torres,” she answered without looking at the caller identification. There was a moment of silence and she frowned. “Hello?”

“Callie, I need you not to freak out.” Mark’s voice surprised her and her frown deepened.

“Why am I going to freak out?” she asked, an edge in her tone. “Is it Sofia? Oh God, what’s wrong? Where is she?”

“Sof’s fine, Callie. She’s with Lex,” Mark assured her.

“With Lexie? Where’s Arizona?” Her panic was now directed toward her wife’s well-being. She’d been on the schedule to work, but Mark and Arizona were supposed to be watching Sofia, her in the morning and him in the afternoon and overnight. “Mark! Where is my wife?!”

“She’s here, with me,” Mark spoke up quickly. “She’s not taking this well,” he said to someone else on his end of the phone.

“ _Mark_!” Callie yelled, grateful that the locker room was empty. “Where are you?”

“Crossing the street,” he answered and she recognized the ambient noises of the outside.

“Across the street to the hospital?!” Callie was moving before she realized it, shoving her feet into her shoes and throwing her lab coat on over one shoulder as she left the locker room and headed toward the elevator, running past curious glances and pounding on the summons button. “What the hell happened? Is she conscious? Did you call an ambulance?”

Mark coughed nervously and abruptly yelped. “Oww, woman! That hurts!”

“You started it!” Arizona’s voice was audible through the phone and Callie let out a deep breath of relief. “This is your fault, Mark!” It sounded like her words were being punctuated by blows and Mark whined again.

“I’m taking you to the hospital! Chill!” he complained loudly.

“What happened to my wife?!” Callie demanded, shouting as she bolted into the elevator and spun to mash the door close button.

“We’re coming into the clinic now,” he said instead of an answer. “Hey Bailey.”

“Robbins? What happened to you?!” The diminutive surgeon’s voice was shocked and it made Callie’s heart clench. What could have happened to her Arizona?

“I’m in the elevator!” Callie told Mark sternly. “Stay there.” She hung up the phone and tapped her foot impatiently while she waited for the doors to open. There were already interns crowding around the desk, but Arizona wasn’t visible. Mark was in the center of the mass, though, and she headed rapidly in that direction. “Where is she, Mark?” she demanded. “Move,” she barked sternly to the gathered others.

“I’m here,” Arizona called, waving one arm up only to hiss in pain.

“Honey, what’s wrong? What hurts?” Callie questioned, shoving her way through the crowd and dropping to her knees in front of Arizona in a wheelchair. “Oh my God!” she gasped, reaching for her wife only to hesitate at the sight of her. “Mark! Get her set up for x-rays and a head CT _now_ and meet us in the exam room,” she ordered, standing up quickly and swatting him away from the handles of the wheelchair. He disappeared into the drifting crowd and Callie nodded to Bailey. “I’m on this. Arizona, is anything broken?” It was against protocol for her to treat her wife, but it didn’t look like a surgical case and the general surgeon didn’t want to argue with Callie when she was in a mood. Even upset, Torres knew better than to attempt to operate on her wife. Just to be on the safe side, she’d page Karev, Bailey decided silently.

“I don’t know,” Arizona groaned, one arm curled up to her chest protectively while her other hand was on an already bandaged head wound and she breathed shallowly.

Callie sighed, trying to calm down. Arizona would be okay. She was there now and she wouldn’t let anything happen to her wife. “Well, you’re here now and I’ll straighten you out.”

“I would hope not!” Arizona joked, groaning as she laughed. “Oh, I can’t laugh. That hurts! Oh, that hurts a lot!”

“Shh, sweetheart,” Callie coaxed. “Don’t talk, okay? I’ll get you checked out and we’ll get you x-rayed and everything will be fine.” She reconsidered and turned a corner quickly. “We’ll go straight to CT and we can do the x-rays up there, okay?”

“Okay,” Arizona agreed pitifully, her body straining to curl closer in on itself as pain radiated through her chest.

“I need to know what happened,” Callie said slowly, in spite of the fact that she’d just told Arizona she shouldn’t talk. “How did this happen?”

“I fell.”

Callie frowned as they wheeled into the imaging chamber, mentally matching Arizona’s injuries to various scenarios. “Fell where? Down stairs?” Arizona’s silence gave her the answer and Callie gasped. “You fell down stairs?! If this is because of those ridiculous shoes of yours, so help me…”

“My shoes are awesome!” Arizona denied immediately. “And I’m awesome on them! This one is all on Mark!”

“ _Mark_ pushed you down stairs?” Callie demanded, her voice growing louder unconsciously. “Oh, he’s - _you_! You’re so dead!” she cried as Mark appeared in the doorway. “What the hell did you do to her?!”

Mark backpedaled quickly, lifting both hands. “Whoa, Callie, come on! You know it was an accident! I wouldn’t hurt Robbins on purpose!”

“An accident?! How did you _accidentally_ push my wife down the stairs?!” Callie demanded loudly, but her wrath was curbed by Arizona’s sudden whimper of pain. “Help me get her up,” the angry brunette ordered. “And then you _will_ tell me what happened.”

They got Arizona set up for the CT and Callie dragged Mark into the other room to check the monitors. Thankfully her skull was unbroken, with no bleeding in her brain. Mark set up the x-rays on his own, but Callie’s experienced eye could see that Arizona’s wrist was fractured, but it looked like a clean break that wouldn’t require surgery. Judging by the way Arizona was breathing shallowly her ribs were bruised but not broken, and it looked like she had wrenched her knee pretty good as well, though she’d have to see the x-rays to see if it was torn. Callie stayed silent as Mark scanned the damage, though she was obviously seething.

“She could have broken her neck,” she said, voice much softer than he’d been prepared for as he reentered the monitoring room. Her eyes were blazing when she turned to look at him, and she snatched a chart off the table and smacked him with it. He flinched and she kept hitting him. “She could have broken her neck!” she repeated, each word punctuated with another sharp blow, fists adding more hits.

“Yeah, but she didn’t,” Mark offered, guarding his face with one hand, the other trying futilely to get a hold on her binder wielding hand. “Callie! Stop hitting me!”

“Hit him more!” Arizona called encouragingly from inside the CT chamber.

“You need to be quiet, sweetie,” Callie called, triggering the microphone so Arizona could hear her. “I’m coming to get you down.”

Mark moved to follow, wanting to help her, but Callie turned on him in the doorway, poking him hard in the chest. “Oh, no! I don’t think so!” she denied him. “You’re not touching her again. For any reason.”

“Cal, you need my help,” Mark tried to reason with her. “I won’t do anything to hurt her.”

“Like you’ve so obviously been doing _awesome_ at that today!” Callie stated, the accusation plain.

Mark rolled his eyes and she poked him again. “You said awesome,” he teased. “Robbins is rubbing off on you.” She glared at him and he lowered his protective hand slowly. “Just let me help, okay? She’s Sofia’s mama…”

The sentiment made her soften as he knew that it would. “Fine,” she grumbled. “But if she groans _once_ , I’ll break your thumbs.”

Mark was very ginger and cautious as they lifted Arizona back into the wheelchair, and he was careful to step back and put distance between them as Callie pushed her wife back out of the room. “Bring those films as soon as they’re ready,” the brunette ordered sternly without looking back at him.

Karev was walking toward them as they reached the hallway and he turned on his heel to pace the wheelchair. “Hey. Bailey paged me and told me to come find you… Dude, what happened?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Callie groused.

“It was an accident, mostly. Mark and I were kind of goofing around and I ended up falling down two flights of stairs,” Arizona answered, keeping the story vague in a futile attempt to keep Callie calm.

“ _Two_?!” Callie gasped. “That’s it. Karev, go get Sloan and bring him to me,” she demanded harshly. Arizona moaned in pain and it tempered Callie’s anger. “Change of plans,” she said, grabbing her wife’s protégé by the arm. “You’re going to help me get her out of the chair, _then_ you go find Mark and bring him to me!”

He nodded, obviously unsure but not wanting to get on Callie’s bad side by saying no. “Yes ma’am.” Arizona smirked proudly in her chair, a laugh becoming a painful cough.

“Move,” Callie barked, frightening Karev into jumping, the man bolting inside an exam room to hold the door open for Callie and Arizona. “Alright, now gently,” she coached, taking Arizona’s injured side herself. Callie counted them down and they managed to transfer Arizona smoothly onto the bed.

“I’ll see you later, Dr. Robbins,” Karev said, backing quickly away from the couple as soon as he could. “Feel better or whatever.”

Arizona rolled her eyes slightly as she looked up at Callie, the brunette distracted by examining her leg. “I think we need to get your pants off,” Callie mused and Arizona shifted her weight slowly.

“I love when you say that, but I don’t think I can help this time,” she said, pursing her lips as she looked down at herself.

“I might just have to cut them off of you,” Callie clarified. “I don’t want you moving that knee until I can check it out.”

Arizona considered that, letting out a deep breath. “That’s kind of hot, I guess,” she admitted, voice hoarse with pain.

Callie rolled her eyes at that, shaking her head from side to side. “So me treating you for a broken wrist and bruised ribs and what looks like a severely twisted knee is hot?”

Arizona’s face screwed up into a painful pout. “I meant the part where you’re cutting my pants off. The other stuff, not so much hot as frustrating and painful.” She grimaced, injured wrist still held protectively to her chest. “Am I going to need surgery?”

Callie shook her head. “I can’t be definite until Mark gets here with those x-rays, but I think I can just pop it back.” Arizona grimaced again and the brunette’s professional demeanor was cracked by her wife’s morose expression. “Sweetie, I’m sorry. I can get another doctor if you want me here in a hand-holding capacity instead of a doctor capacity.”

Arizona blinked, shaking her head pitifully. “I want you to do it,” she said, voice small and pathetic.

“Okay, honey. I’ve got you,” Callie promised, leaning over to press a kiss to Arizona’s forehead.

“You don’t normally kiss your patients, do you? Because I’m not okay with that,” Arizona said, voice hoarse even as she tried to joke around.

Callie smiled, lips still pressed to pale skin. “Only the ones I’m married to.”

“Ones? Plural ones? Are you marrying patients now too? Because I…” Callie cut her off with a kiss, capturing the blonde’s bottom lip between her own and pulling gently. Arizona melted and Callie couldn’t help nipping at her wife’s lip. One hand gingerly stroked through Arizona’s blonde locks, but Callie was careful not to put any pressure on her head. Even without a fracture, head wounds were painful. “That’s better,” Arizona said as they separated a few long, slow moments later, her good hand sliding over Callie’s cheek softly.

Callie turned as a folder appeared from under the door, the brunette dashing to get the door open, but Mark was already fleeing down the hall. “I know where you live, Sloan!” she yelled after him, picking up the large folder as she returned to Arizona. “Want to see your pretty bones?” she asked as she switched on the light box and started putting up films.

“Pretty bones? Bones aren’t pretty,” Arizona protested. Callie sent her a look over her shoulder and the blonde corrected herself, “Unless you’re in _Ortho_ , I guess. At least everyone thinks my specialty is pretty!”

“Babies are pretty,” Callie agreed as she finished. “Especially our baby. But you’re wrong about bones. They’re hot.”

“Oh, so now they’re hot? Should I be worried when you get these big, weird cases where people’s legs are like pretzels that you’re going to go be hot over whoever’s closest?”

Callie laughed as she turned around and came back to lean against the side of Arizona’s bed, taking her good hand naturally. “Of course not! Your bones are hot because they match the rest of you,” she explained. “And big surgeries get me hot, yes, but it’s the same way for you, and we’ve got that covered because we come home to each other and work it off there.” She grinned sideways at her wife. “Or, if we can’t make it all the way home, we hook up here,” Callie reminded her.

Arizona nodded, pleased smile on her face. “Not until you fix me, though,” she said, smile becoming a put-out pout. Callie was surveying the x-rays and she curled her free arm across her chest, leaving the other hand in Arizona’s. The blonde kept her eyes on her wife, loving the focus in her deep brown eyes. She knew it wasn’t just for her case, but it was the care and focus that Callie gave to all of her patients. But it was especially hot when it was for her. Callie blinked in surprise as her hand was pulled up to Arizona’s mouth and she turned to look at her. “You’re hot when you’re all focused and diligent,” Arizona said, giving her an almost shy smile. “Even hotter when you’re all focused and diligent on me.”

Callie grinned, squeezing Arizona’s hand gently. “Well, you better be ready to be overwhelmed with hotness,” she warned teasingly. “Because you’re going to be getting a lot of ‘focused and diligent’ for the next few weeks.” Arizona smirked, biting her bottom lip. “We’re going to have to ice your ribs and your knee twice a day.” Callie’s eyes fell to her wife’s broken wrist. “But first I need to hotly fix your wrist.”

Arizona nodded, her smirk fading. “Okay.” She hesitantly extended her arm as she braced herself, squeezing Callie’s hand a final time before she let it go and twisted her fingers around the bed’s railing. Callie took a step forward and turned to take Arizona’s broken wrist gingerly. She hesitated to move and Arizona cleared her throat. “You ready?” Arizona asked.

Callie blinked, surprised to realize that their roles had been switched. “Yes, I’m ready…” She still didn’t move, though. “It’s going to hurt. I don’t know if I can hurt you,” she said finally, eyes staying focused on Arizona’s wrist.

“Aww. Calliope, look at me,” Arizona said softly, waiting until Callie met her eyes. “If you don’t want to do this, I understand… But I trust you. You’re an Ortho rock star and you would never hurt me on purpose. I know that.” She gave a weak smile, though it was from pain rather than lack of conviction. “This is medical. And you’re the best there is.”

Callie smiled, helpless to resist Arizona’s dimples. “Tell me that I’m great,” she said.

Arizona’s smile grew. “You are great,” she answered confidently. “Now, please fix my arm so I can have drugs,” she pleaded. “This hurts.”

Callie nodded, regaining her focus abruptly. “Right.” She forced herself to focus on the wrist, trying to forget that it was Arizona’s wrist, that the pain she was about to inflict, even beneficial pain, was going to be happening to Arizona. Her beloved Arizona. “Want a countdown or just…”

“Just do it,” Arizona interrupted, gasping as Callie obeyed and expertly jerked her bones back into alignment even as she spoke. Tears welled in her eyes suddenly and another strangled whimper escaped as the blonde strained to catch her breath.

“Arizona, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Callie had one hand over her mouth, her anxiety obvious, while the other stabilized Arizona’s elbow and kept her from jerking her arm. “Are you okay?”

Arizona nodded with a groan, making an effort to open her eyes. “Super.”

“I know you are,” Callie agreed, a bit breathless herself, leaning forward again to kiss her forehead once more. “I don’t ever want to have to do that again.”

The blonde slumped back against her pillows weakly, nodding her agreement. “Yeah, definitely. We just have to keep Mark from murdering me.”

Callie’s expression darkened. “He might be banned from the apartment for this. He can hand Sofia over the threshold.” Her eyes narrowed. “What happened? Details this time, please…”

Arizona sighed, grimacing as her ribs protested. “Can you fix me up while we talk?” 

Callie was already moving, readying a cold pack for her wife’s ribs and knee and a floating splint for her wrist. The brunette gave her a prompting nod as she gently strapped the wrist into place. “I’ll cast a plaster one later,” Callie promised. “And I’m going to need to check your ribs and knee so you’ll be stripping here in a minute. While you talk,” she reminded her pointedly.

“Okay. Well, me and Mark have been trying to get along, you know? So we stupidly decided that we’d play with Sofia together, just kind of go wherever she went. We left the doors open and of course she wants to go into the hall, but she just sits down out there.” She sighed. “We should have just taken her back inside one of the apartments, but she was satisfied and quiet, so we just stayed out there with her.”

“And?” Callie prompted when Arizona fell silent.

“And he might have said something about my ability to throw a spiral,” Arizona admitted sheepishly.

“You were showing off?” Callie demanded, frustrated. “But how does throwing a ball become you falling down the stairs?”

Arizona shrugged minutely. “Well, once he was impressed with my skills, we decided to toss the ball around a little bit in the hall.”

“Around our baby?!” She was glad they were friendly now, but if this was the alternative to the cooking, she might let them go back to that. The cooking had never ended Arizona up in the hospital.

Arizona shot her a look. “Of course not! We’re not stupid! Well, _I’m_ not stupid! Sofia went down for her nap, so we put her in the crib in Mark’s apartment and we had the monitor and the door was open. She was perfectly safe, I swear.”

Callie’s frustration melted a little at Arizona’s obvious care and devotion to their baby. The last year had proved nothing so much as how ‘all in’ Arizona was. “I know you would never let her get hurt,” Callie assured her. “I’m just still a little freaked out. I don’t ever want you in here again unless you’re working.”

“Got it,” Arizona agreed mildly. “The same goes for you, okay?”

Callie nodded. “Continue with the story, please, before I get distracted with all the mutual concern,” she said, giving her wife a loving smile to take the sting from the words. “And lift your arms.”

“Mmh, yes ma’am,” Arizona agreed, letting Callie lift her shirt over her head. 

The brunette’s expression darkened as she surveyed the bruises marring her wife’s fair skin. Fortunately, it didn’t appear that any ribs were broken. “Tell me how this isn’t entirely Mark’s fault or I might kill him.”

Arizona was quiet, considering that. “Um, well…I mean, I did agree to play with him,” she said finally. “And it’s not like he _wanted_ me to go down the stairs. We just got kind of into the game and he’s really _big_ and I’m… not really big. We’d been getting a little… physical. It really was an accident,” she finished. “And we called Lexie to watch Sofia because Mark’s _somehow_ got her schedule memorized even though he said he was backing off, and he brought me over here.”

Callie sighed, still leaned over to inspect Arizona’s side. “This is going to be cold,” she warned just before she put the ice pack in place. “And don’t ever let me hear you say that you and Mark were getting physical again.” Callie looked a little nauseous, her traitorous mind filling itself with images of Arizona wrapped up in Mark’s arms while they tussled playfully over a football.

Arizona nodded, swallowing hard. “Okay,” she agreed meekly. “Sorry.”

Callie’s eyes surveyed her wife and she felt her annoyance bleed out into a strange mixture of relief and a tiny bit of lingering frustration. She couldn’t blame Arizona for trying to get along with Mark. Their three person parenting situation wasn’t going to go away. Anything any of them did to make it easier was appreciated. “I’m glad you’re going to be okay, Arizona,” Callie said, voice soft. She held Arizona’s shirt up and open, helping the blonde guide herself back into it.

“Is that an official Dr. Torres, Ortho God, diagnosis?” the blonde teased with a grin, her good hand holding the icepack against her bruised ribs as Callie resettled her shirt in place.

Callie’s earnest, caring expression didn’t change. “Arizona…”

Arizona took a quick kiss to cut her off. “Drugs now, please?” The request was given in a not-entirely-faked pitiful voice.

“Of course, sweetie.” Callie had only just stepped back from the bed when the door opened behind her. “Sloan, if that’s you…”

Alex Karev’s voice cut her off. “He’s hiding like a little bitch,” he said with a gruff chuckle. “I brought you some drugs. I figured you’d want them.”

Arizona gave him a pleased but painful smile. “This is why he’s my favorite man. You’re getting surgeries for this, Karev.” She shifted so her splinted arm was available, Alex giving her a small handful of pills.

Callie rolled her eyes as she held the cup of water and straw out for Arizona to get a drink, smirking sideways at her wife’s protégé as they both watched Arizona slump weakly back into the exam bed in over-dramatized relief. “Your ribs…” Callie reminded her a second too late, repositioning the icepack when Arizona hissed in pain. “Stop moving so much. The medicine needs time to start working.” She brushed blonde bangs back gingerly, not letting her fingers touch pale skin. “Thank you, Karev. Could you do me one more favor and bring me the pink casting material?”

He gave her a nod, crossing his arms over his chest. “No problem. I’ll be right back.”

Arizona smiled as he left. “He’s a good guy, even if he has seen you naked,” she declared. Her head nodded before she leaned back into the pillow. “I’m letting it go as a favor to medicine.”

Callie laughed, combing her fingers through her wife’s hair again. “That’s good of you. And good for the tiny humans. I’m going to get started on your cast, okay? You just relax.” Arizona complied, closing her eyes and breathing as deeply as she could.

Alex returned as Callie was finishing up the prep, winding the pink fabric around Arizona’s arm and hand without missing a beat. “You good in here?” Callie nodded, giving him a smile over her shoulder. “Okay. See you, Dr. Robbins, Torres. I’ll page you if I find Sloan.”

“Thanks,” Callie repeated, grinning at him as he retreated. Her gaze fell back to Arizona as the blonde shifted and winced against the pillow. “The cast needs to dry, so don’t move a lot, okay? And I need to wrap your knee,” Callie warned her, voice low. “I’ll be careful, but the pressure will probably hurt at first.”

Arizona nodded, her eyes sliding closed as she steadied her good hand against the railing of the bed. “Ready,” she mumbled, sucking in a deep breath and holding it.

Callie couldn’t help smiling, picking up the scissors on her tray. “You can breathe, Arizona. It’s going to take me a few minutes.”

Blue eyes blinked open and Arizona smiled weakly. “Okay.”

“Damn it,” Callie complained as she noticed Arizona’s pants. “I like these jeans! I really don’t want to cut them,” she pursed her lips, “But it’ll hurt to pull them off…”

“Mark can buy me some more,” Arizona suggested, blinking when Callie sent her a pointed look. “Or not…?”

Callie shook her head slowly from side to side, brows rising. “Mark Sloan is never going to be responsible for buying clothes for you. He’d take that as an invitation to fantasize and you’d end up with a bunch of new underwear.”

Arizona’s face screwed up in a distasteful grimace. “Yeah, that’s gross.”

Nodding agreement, Callie opened the scissors and carefully snipped the denim at Arizona’s feet. “I’ll get you some more,” she reassured herself as Arizona giggled. “Pain meds working yet, sweetheart?” she asked, not lifting her eyes from her work.

“The scissors are cold,” Arizona told her, able to feel the light touch of the flat metal against her skin as the blades moved up the inside of her leg. “It tickles.”

Callie couldn’t help smiling in amusement. “I’ll take that as a yes,” murmured the distracted doctor as she reached Arizona’s bruised and swollen knee, hissing in sympathy at the sight of it. “This looks bad, baby.”

“It doesn’t feel awesome either,” Arizona agreed, nodding solemnly even with a strained smile on her face. “Mark said he was sorry though. He’s getting pretty good at it. He apologized for this…” She glanced at her knee but the bruises made her cringe and she looked away quickly. “Apologized for the other thing…” she muttered, apparently distracting herself by making a mental list of her co-parent’s various apologies.

“What other thing?” Callie asked with a frown, snapping the wrist of her glove with a finger as she contemplated the bruised, sure to be tender and aching knee before her.

“The nothing thing… when Sofia was born,” explained Arizona vaguely, waving her splinted arm in a wide, encompassing gesture.

Callie ducked away from the unsteady arm instinctually, her attention distracted from her work. “What nothing thing when Sofia was born?” she questioned, her frown deepening.

“He apologized, Calliope,” Arizona said, giving her a doped smile. “We’re trying to be better. For you and Sof.”

The brunette nodded. “I get that, Arizona, but I want to know what the nothing thing was…”

“Bailey and Kepner heard it,” Arizona informed her cheerfully. “He was yelling, though, so lots of people probably heard it.” Her expression sobered slowly when Callie’s arms crossed her chest. “You won’t like it. That’s why I never told you.”

“Tell me,” Callie insisted seriously. “Now, Arizona.”

Arizona swallowed, head bobbing as she nodded. “My knee hurts,” she reminded her partner, her last ditch distraction technique as she realized the can of worms she’d accidentally opened. And she and Mark really _were_ trying to get along better. Throwing him any further under the bus of Callie’s wrath was never her intention.

Unfortunately for her, Callie wasn’t going to drop it. “I’m going to fix it,” Callie promised, letting her arms relax as she exchanged her scissors for the roll of bandage on the tray. “Try to hold it where I put it, okay?” she coached, gingerly guiding Arizona’s knee into a slight, natural angle before she started wrapping up the joint with an ease born of years of practice and experience.

Arizona’s eyes widened as she watched, impressed with the speed and easy skill with which Callie tended to her knee. “You’re fast with that!”

“Thank you, but we’re not done talking about whatever Mark had to apologize for the day of the accident,” Callie stated. “Just tell me, Arizona. Now that I know there’s something to find out, you know how easy it would be to find someone to fill me in. You said Bailey heard it. And Kepner would crack in two seconds.”

Arizona grimaced. “Promise you won’t be mad?” she bargained. “It was a long time ago and he apologized, Callie. He was stressed, I was stressed, it was a stressful day…”

“Just tell me what he said, please, Arizona,” requested Callie, applying a fresh icepack to Arizona’s bandaged knee. “Does that feel tight enough? Or too tight?”

“Feels better,” the blonde answered. “Calliope…”

“Arizona…” Callie matched her tone and employed the ‘Bailey-stare’ ruthlessly.

“Mark said I was nothing,” Arizona blurted in a rush, ducking her head to break the stare. “He didn’t…”

“ _ **What?!**_ ” Callie demanded loudly. “He said _what_?!” She whipped the gloves off of either hand in a rush, unconsciously cracking the knuckles of both hands against her thighs. She was muttering under her breath in Spanish and Arizona looked up.

“Calliope,” she called softly. “Please… He said he was sorry. He didn’t mean it. We were stressed out, arguing… I called him the sperm donor! We thought you were going to die.”

Callie flinched but her dark eyes were still blazing when she met Arizona’s blue gaze. “I want to know _exactly_ what he said, Arizona,” she instructed sternly.

Arizona shook her head and hair fell in her face. “No, you don’t,” she said regretfully, hissing in pain when she instinctively reached her injured hand up to push her hair back.

Callie took a deep, soothing breath as she reached forward to help, her fingers rolling the tips of Arizona’s hair gently between them. “Arizona…”

“Callie, please, believe me. There’s a reason no one’s told you yet,” Arizona reasoned. “This is Seattle Grace-Mercy West, possibly the most busybody workplace in the entire world. I think that should tell you something if you haven’t heard anything about this in so long.” Her blue eyes were pleading for a reprieve. “Can you please let it go, Calliope? I shouldn’t have said what I said, and Mark shouldn’t have said what he did, but he apologized and we’re all doing better now.”

“If he hurt you…” Callie took a shuddering breath. “You’re my _wife_ , Arizona. You’re not nothing. You could never be nothing. Not to me and not to our daughter.”

Arizona blinked and her vision was cloudy with tears. “I know that, Calliope.” Her voice was hoarse with emotion. “I know that,” she repeated in a whisper. “It’s okay.” She offered her good hand across her body for Callie to take, dimples appearing when the brunette pulled her hand to plush lips to press a kiss to it. “I love you,” she whispered, laughing quietly when Callie returned the sentiment. “Can we go home now?”

Callie shook her head regretfully. “I don’t want you home alone like this. My shift isn’t over for another two hours. You can stay in here and sleep and I’ll take you home in a little bit, okay?” Arizona let out a deep breath but didn’t argue.

They both looked over at the door as a knock preceded Chief Hunt’s entrance. “Dr. Robbins, Dr. Bailey told me you were here. It’s good to see that you’re alright.”

Arizona shifted to sit up as best as she could, nodding. “Thank you. Dr. Torres takes good care of me.” She sent an almost shy smile in her wife’s direction.

“Torres, can Dr. Robbins be discharged?”

“Yes,” Callie answered him. “But I’m on shift…”

He waved that off. “Dr. Bailey has offered to cover the rest of your shift for you. You take your wife home, Dr. Torres.”

“Thank you.” Callie murmured, seeing Arizona’s smile widen happily through the corner of her eye. “She’ll be out of the OR for at least two weeks.”

Owen frowned but nodded. “Take the time to get better, Dr. Robbins. Dr. Karev has assured me that he can care for the cases you’ve got.” Arizona grimaced to show her displeasure with being off her feet that long, but nodded when Callie narrowed her eyes and cleared her throat pointedly. “I’m certain Dr. Karev will keep you apprised of any potential complications,” he assured her with an amused smile, one hand rubbing at his beard.

“Yes sir,” Arizona agreed dutifully, seeing Callie biting back a smile at her side.

“Dr. Torres, take a few days yourself. I know it won’t be easy to deal with a wife who’s laid up _and_ a baby,” Owen said sternly.

Callie nodded, satisfied with staying home to take care of her family. “Yes, thank you. Just page if there’s anything…”

“Of course.” He gave them both a quick smile. “Feel better, Arizona.” With that, he turned and left, the door swinging closed behind him.

“Home now?” Arizona requested. “I want to snuggle with my girls.”

Callie smiled, combing her fingers through blonde hair and prompting Arizona’s eyes to drop closed. “Definitely,” agreed the brunette. “Let me go get you a wheelchair and we’ll go home, alright?”

Arizona submitted to the wheelchair ride, her hands resting in her lap as she quietly let Callie push her out of the hospital and across the street to their apartment, speaking up when the elevator doors closed behind them. “Can we get Sofia first?”

“Of course.”

Arizona knocked on Mark’s door with her good hand, gesturing greedily when Lexie answered the door with Sofia on her hip. “There’s my baby girl!” the blonde cooed and Sofia’s face broke out in a happy grin. “Come see Mama!”

Sofia was already reaching for her fair-haired mother and Lexie passed her over with a smile, careful that the baby was placed into Arizona’s good arm. “How is everything? Did anything get broken?” the younger Grey asked, genuinely concerned.

“Just some bumps and bruises,” Arizona answered distractedly, already focused on Sofia.

Callie rolled her eyes. “And a broken wrist. I was able to do a closed reduction, though.” She let out a deep breath, willing her tension to drain away. “Thank you for coming to watch Sof, Lexie. You didn’t have to do that.”

The younger woman waved off the gratitude with a cheerful smile. “I was happy to do it,” she said. “Sofia’s a sweetheart.” Her smile became an almost wicked smirk. “And if Mark got brained with something, that’s just a bonus.” She looked at Arizona’s bruises and back at Callie. “You did hit him with something, didn’t you?”

The Ortho surgeon shrugged, smirking herself. “Got him with a couple good punches and a few shots with a folder, but nothing too big.”

“Big baby was hiding from her,” Arizona chimed in with a laugh, her eyes not leaving Sofia as she leaned over to make faces at her daughter. “I punched him a few times too on the way to the clinic.”

“Good,” Lexie sighed in satisfaction. “Then babysitting was absolutely my pleasure.”

Callie gave her a grateful smile. “Maybe we could call you next week? Arizona’s going to be off her feet and I think Mark might still be banned from the apartment next week…”

“In that case, of course,” Lexie agreed with another grin. “I’d be happy to help.” She locked Mark’s door behind her and handed the diaper bag over to Callie. “Arizona, I hope you feel better soon!”

“Thank you, Lexie. Really. Thanks for everything today,” Arizona told her seriously. “Surgeries for you!”

Callie laughed, rolling her eyes. “Ignore her. She’s giving surgeries as thank you gifts today. Karev earned his by bringing her pain meds earlier.” Lexie laughed, smiling fondly at the Peds surgeon. “She’s feeling those drugs right now.”

“You hush, Calliope. I know what I’m doing,” Arizona objected. “Lexie, when I get back to work, you and Karev are on my service and you can both have surgeries. Good surgeries!”

Shrugging from behind her wife’s back, Callie shook her head in silent laughter. “Thank you, Dr. Robbins. I appreciate that,” Lexie said gratefully. “Call me if there’s anything else I can do.”

“Thanks, Lexie,” Callie said genuinely, waving as the other woman turned to leave. “Now, you two are going to lay down,” she instructed as she turned the key in their own door to let them into their home. 

There was a moment of juggling Sofia and Arizona as Callie tried to get the blonde settled on the bed without Arizona surrendering the baby. “Now you,” Arizona ordered even as she grew drowsy from the medication, settling deeper into her pillow as Sofia giggled and played with the fingers Arizona was obligingly wiggling above her. “You said I could snuggle with my girls, Calliope.”

“I did say that,” Callie agreed mildly, kicking out of her shoes and climbing up to stretch out on the other side of Sofia, the baby sitting safely in between them.

Sofia shrieked with laughter as she succeeded in catching one of Arizona’s fingers, the little girl promptly trying to stick her prize in her mouth. The attempt drew fond laughter from both of her mothers and she grinned happily. Callie settled onto her side so she could see both of them and Arizona shifted so she could tangle her good leg through Callie’s. “Sleepy?” the brunette asked considerately, able to see Arizona’s eyes growing heavier from across the bed.

“Yes,” Arizona yawned. “But will you stay until I fall asleep?” She knew Sofia had already had her nap and wouldn’t be satisfied spending the rest of the afternoon in bed with her parents, but she wanted to get to bask in the soft, sleepy warmth of her family for just a little while before she surrendered to unconsciousness.

Callie smiled fondly, smoothing one hand over Sofia’s hair and offering her own fingers as a plaything for the baby while Arizona blinked sleepily at her. “Of course I will, sweetheart. Nowhere I’d rather be.”

Unfortunately, it only took the blonde a few minutes to fade into medically induced sleep and a few minutes past that for Sofia to grow bored with her parents’ bed and start looking around in search of something fun. Thinking wisely that a sleeping, injured Arizona might prove a too tempting target for the baby, Callie scooped her up and reluctantly removed them from the bed. Before she left the bedroom, she shook out a corner of their blanket one-handed and carefully covered up her sleeping wife, leaving her with a gentle kiss to the temple.


	2. Chapter 2

Talking quietly to Sofia as she left the bedroom, Callie bounced her daughter gently against her hip as she twirled them through the living room. They got almost an hour of peaceful, mostly quiet playtime before a knock at the door drew her in that direction. Mark greeted her with sheepish eyes, one hand protectively guarding his crotch. “Cal…”

“Don’t,” she cut him off sternly. “I get that today was an accident. Arizona explained and actually defended you.” Mark blinked, his expression clearing slowly and his hand rising. “What I want to know about now is what you said to her the day of the car accident.”

The way his face paled in an instant would have been comical if it didn’t confirm Arizona’s warning that she wouldn’t be happy with whatever she learned. “Callie…”

“Don’t,” she cut him off again. “Arizona said…”

“She finally tell on me?” he demanded, only just keeping his voice down when Callie glared at him.

Sofia was still laughing at her side and she could feel little fingers winding through the curls at the back of her neck. “She did not,” Callie informed him flatly. “She said you apologized for something on the day Sofia was born, but that was only because she’s loopy on pain meds.” She was gratified by his apologetic wince in reaction. “When I asked her what she was talking about she clammed up and told me I don’t want to know.”

“You don’t,” Mark agreed immediately, nodding his head. “Callie, you really don’t want to know.”

“I _do_ want to know,” she denied. “You said she was _nothing_?! How could you, Mark? You know how I feel about her, how much I love her!”

His mouth dropped open. “You said she clammed up!”

“She said Bailey heard you,” Callie countered. “What the hell did you say to her, Mark?! I want to know _exactly_ what you said. I’ll find out one way or another!”

Callie could see his jaw tighten. “I didn’t - I was stressed and she was stressed and you were _dying_ …”

“I know all of that! I want to know what you said to her.” Her voice was steely and it was obvious that she wouldn’t accept excuses or bullshit.

Mark relented with a sigh, visibly bracing himself. “Yeah, okay, I called her nothing, but I didn’t mean it, Cal! I-we-were freaking out!”

“And?” Callie questioned, voice cool. She knew there was something else, something somehow _worse_ than calling the woman she loved nothing.

“Addie and Teddy and the others, they didn’t know if you and Sof could both survive surgery.” He wasn’t looking at her, his eyes focused on their daughter instead. “Robbins said you would want to save the baby.” His voice was thick and choked and his eyes darted to her face. “She would have given you up to save our daughter.”

“You wanted to save me?” she questioned, no accusation in her tone, her voice carefully controlled.

Mark nodded, swallowing hard. “I said we could make another baby.”

Callie blinked in surprise, mouth falling open. “What?” she breathed, her disbelief all over her face. “You said - _no…_ ”

“Callie…”

Her eyes tightened and she instinctively withdrew from him, angling herself between him and Sofia. Mark winced and drew in a breath, preparing to explain himself. “Say it again,” whispered Callie before he could, making his entire body tense.

“What?”

“Say it again,” she ordered slowly, every word deliberate and precise. She couldn’t believe it, not without hearing it again. She had to hear the words come out of his mouth.

“Callie, no…”

“Say it _again_.” Her eyes were deathly serious. “Whatever you said to her - say it again. Or I swear to God, Mark…”

“I said we could have another baby, but not another you. And I said that we would just screw again to make another one,” Mark cut her off, his eyes not meeting hers but focused on Sofia. “Callie…”

She slapped him instinctively, moving without thought, the hand that wasn’t holding Sofia to her side blistering across his cheek with a loud crack. Mark recoiled and Callie realized that she was breathing hard, her throat dry and eyes wide. “How?” she breathed. “How _could_ you?”

“Callie…”

“How could you _ever_? She’s your _daughter_ , Mark!” Callie demanded forcefully. “But if she’d died - if _Arizona_ hadn’t started her heart - we’d just, what, throw her away and start over again? What the - ?” Breathless, she had to stop, squeezing her eyes closed to keep from crying, to keep from looking at his face.

“We’re not sleeping together again,” she informed him flatly after a minute, regaining her composure. “Ever.”

“Callie…”

“No! I love _Arizona_ , Mark. I will never regret Sofia, but sleeping with you was a mistake. It’s not ever going to happen again. You might not want to hear this, but I didn’t want to have a kid with you. Not ever! I want to have kids with Arizona. But we - _I_ screwed up. You were never part of my plan, Mark. And God forbid, but if something _had_ happened and Sofia hadn’t made it, we couldn’t have just had sex again to make another baby!” She shoved his shoulder forcefully with her free hand, adding another few punches to his chest when he didn’t resist. “Arizona is my _wife_! She asked me to marry her on the day of the accident!”

“I know that!”

“But you still told her that you’d just get me pregnant again?!” she questioned incredulously. “Seriously?! What made you think that was okay?”

“I wasn’t thinking!” he said loudly to cut across her tirade. “I wasn’t thinking, Callie, about any of it. I was thinking that I was going to lose my best friend and my daughter, all at once!”

“And what do you think Arizona was thinking?” she demanded, seething. “She’s the person I love! She loves me! She loves Sofia! You don’t think she was worried about losing me and _her_ daughter?!”

His shoulders slumped and she forced herself to relax as much as she could, turning her head to catch the scent of Sofia’s soft, dark hair. “I can only apologize so much, Callie,” Mark said regretfully. “I told Robbins I was sorry.” He lifted one hand to touch Sofia’s cheek, dragging the back of one finger gently across her skin, relieved when Callie didn’t move her away again. “I’ll say it to you too. I’m sorry for what I said to Arizona. She didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t fair of me. She’s not nothing. Even when she was in Africa she was never nothing. You love her. Sofia loves her. Hell, I kind of love her too after she saved our daughter’s life,” he confessed with a hoarse chuckle, earning himself another, gentler, shove to the shoulder. “Arizona’s not nothing. She’s your wife, she’s Sof’s mama, and she’s my friend.”

He took a cautious step forward and Callie looked up at him. “Mark…” Her tired sigh of his name was his cue to wrap an arm around her. She promptly shrugged it off. She wasn’t that okay with him yet. “You’re my friend and I love you, but if you _ever_ say something like that to her again…”

“You’ll break my hands, got it,” he finished for her, nodding and shifting his weight between his feet.

“I’ll break everything you’ve got,” Callie corrected him, flat tone not hiding her severity. One wrong move from him and she’d break him in half.

“Noted.” Mark nodded and let out a deep breath. “It’s not going to happen again, Callie, I swear. Robbins is part of the family.”

Callie laughed suddenly but the sound was almost bitter. “Our baby’s weird little family.” She forced herself to relax over a long moment, Sofia resuming cooing happily between them, before she stepped forward, free hand patting his chest where she had punched him. “I guess you’re here to get Sofia for your night?”

“And I brought crutches for Blondie. How’s she doing?”

Callie let his hands take the baby from her while she picked up the crutches he’d provided. “She’s got a broken wrist but I was able to reduce it. The rest is just bruises. You’re lucky she didn’t tear anything in her knee,” she advised him with a hard poke to the chest. “It goes without saying, but…”

“Hurt her again, even on accident, and I’m a dead man?” Mark guessed.

“Exactly. And stay away from her. You are not to be alone with my wife again. Not until I say otherwise.”

Mark blinked, surprised. “What? That’s - why not?! Today was an accident! And Robbins is my friend!”

“And you’re the reason she fell down stairs today and got hurt!” Callie shot back. “And I’m still mad at you, so this is your punishment! I can’t kick you out of the apartment entirely because of Sofia, but you can’t come over to hang out with Arizona anymore. You’re in a time out!”

“Callie!” he whined. “That’s no fair! You can’t just say I can’t see my friend!”

“I can so,” declared the Ortho surgeon with a look. “Because she’s _my_ wife!”

“But - but that’s punishing Arizona too, not letting her hang out with me, right?”

Callie just scoffed. “Believe me, she’ll be hanging out with _me_ , so I’m not worried she’ll miss you.” She gave him a wicked grin. “Was she kicking your ass at football or something that you decided to take her down the stairs?”

He scoffed back as she stepped back to let him into the apartment. “Robbins wishes she could kick my ass at football.” He gestured with his free hand, marking out Arizona’s dimensions in the air as the pout faded from his face and he accepted his punishment. “We just got kind of into the game and she’s… smaller than you’d expect for someone who can hit so hard.” Unconsciously his hand trailed across his stomach, where Arizona had landed her shoulder more than once during their game. It was still kind of sore.

Callie smirked proudly at that. She expected nothing less from her girl. “Well, regardless of how it happened, thank you for getting her to the hospital.”

Mark nodded, smiling hopefully at the prospect of light at the end of the tunnel of Callie’s anger at him. “Sure thing, Callie.” His smile grew into a broad grin behind his beard as he remembered what he and Arizona had spent their morning on. “Hey, did Blondie tell you what Sof can do now?” he asked eagerly.

Their daughter’s progress was slower than other children her age, but she was completely healthy and stable in spite of her rocky start and they all treasured each developmental stride she made. “No,” Callie answered, rolling her eyes at his constant efforts to use anything other than her first name to address her partner. “ _Arizona_ was a bit distracted by all the pain and the broken wrist.”

He grimaced apologetically and crossed to sit Sofia down at the base of the couch. “Well, check it out! We worked on it all morning with her!” He backed up about three feet and palmed a rubber ball from the floor, squatting down in front of his little girl. “Sofia, look at Daddy, big girl!” Her eyes found him, a toothless smile on her face and Callie couldn’t help smiling herself.

Mark rolled the ball across to her and with only minimal fumbling, Sofia got her little hands on it and shoved it back to him. “Oh, Sofia! Good girl!” Callie praised enthusiastically, clapping her hands excitedly.

“Right?!” Mark proudly agreed, leaning back on his heels as he grabbed the ball again and rolled it slowly back to her. Sofia repeated her trick and joined her mother in clapping. Or attempting to clap, anyway. That trick was still eluding her.

“Dios mio, she’s amazing,” Callie whispered, in awe of her little girl. She rounded the couch to stand by Mark as he was still kneeling. Sofia leaned her head back to look up at her and let out a giggle that made Callie’s knees weak. Despite having no genetic tie to her blonde mother, Sofia had Arizona’s laugh. She was more frequently shrieking with giddy laughter whenever she succeeded with something and wanted her parents to notice, but whenever she was giggly, it was Arizona’s laugh that escaped her lips.

Callie sat down heavily, suddenly overwhelmed with love for both her wife and her daughter. Mark looked up to meet her eyes and one hand squeezed her knee gently, able to see her emotions on her face. “You’re a lucky woman, Torres.”

“I really, really am,” she agreed breathlessly. A sudden knock on the door drew both of their attention, a confused frown appearing on Callie’s face. “Who…?”

Mark pushed himself to his feet with a grunt. “I got it.” He wasn’t surprised in the least by the Chinese food delivery man on the other side of the door, and he exchanged bills for bags of food. “Thanks.” He turned around to greet Callie’s questioning expression. “Oh, well, I figured I gave your wife a bum leg and arm, dinner was the least I could do. Roller-girl likes sweet and sour chicken, right?”

Callie rolled her eyes at the nickname, but nodded. “Yeah, she does.”

“I ordered you that spicy noodle dish you like,” he continued with a smug grin as he carried the big paper bag to the kitchen island.

“And it looks like we’ll have enough for the rest of the week at least,” Callie teased. “Thank you, Mark.” She took a deep breath, realizing suddenly that she was tired. “Between everything, I hadn’t even thought about dinner.” Sofia’s ball hit the side of her foot and she leaned over to roll it back to her. Another of Arizona’s laughs was her reward and she caught herself wondering if it was possible to literally melt from sheer happiness.

Her bedroom door opening drew both of their eyes up, Arizona tousling her hair drowsily as she leaned in the doorway barefooted, her slit jeans still hanging around her leg. “Hey, it’s our resident linebacker!” she greeted Mark, grateful when Callie got up and provided her with crutches. “Here for another attempt on my life?” She was grinning tiredly as she asked, though.

Callie laughed, steadying her. “The linebacker assassin brought dinner.”

“And those crutches,” Mark chimed in from a safe distance.

Arizona blinked wide blue eyes as she considered that. “Okay then. Surgeries for you.”

Callie rolled her eyes and Mark gave her a concerned look. “Surgeries?” he asked. “Are you sure her CT came back clean? I can call Derek…”

“Ignore her. That’s how she’s thanking people today. Lexie and Karev are both on her service when she’s back at work and she promised them both surgeries,” explained Callie with a laugh.

Arizona didn’t appear to be following their conversation and she frowned as something occurred to her. “Dinner? Does that mean Sofia’s going across the hall? I don’t want her to go yet! I fell asleep and missed all the good snuggles!”

Callie gave Mark a pleading, questioning look but didn’t speak. “Oh, well, of course we’ll stay through dinner,” he spoke up immediately, shrugging broad shoulders. “There’s plenty of food and it’s not bedtime yet.”

The brunette mouthed a ‘thank you’ across the room to him and gestured between the kitchen and the living room. “Where do you want to sit?”

“Couch, please,” Arizona requested, already smiling at Sofia. “There’s my girl!” She let Callie help her along, giving her wife just enough time to set the crutches to the side before she yanked her down onto the cushion beside her. “My girls,” she hummed happily, leaning in to kiss Callie’s cheek softly.

Mark plated up some food for each of them, Callie picking up Sofia and putting her carefully in Arizona’s arms. “Is she on your ribs?”

“I’m okay.” Arizona was thoroughly distracted by the baby and Callie smiled fondly as she stood up. “Hey!” the blonde protested, looking up at her.

Callie soothed her with a kiss to the brow. “Let me help Mark with the food. I’ll be right back. And Sofia’s going to be wanting her dinner too.”

“I can make a bottle, Cal,” Mark said from the kitchen.

“You get her all night,” Callie reminded him. “Let me do this one thing.” She patted his arm as she moved around him in the kitchen, part of her surprised by how normal all of this parenting stuff was starting to feel. Or at least familiar, if not entirely normal.

Arizona insisted on feeding Sofia, even with her arm in a cast, while Callie and Mark started on dinner. “You know, being injured is making you a baby hog,” Mark commented, amused.

Arizona rolled her eyes but didn’t deny it. “I was at the hospital when I should have been playing with my baby. You owe me,” declared Arizona.

“But you’re hurt, sweetheart, and you need to eat too,” Callie reminded her patiently. “I haven’t had much baby time at all. Let me hold her.”

Arizona pouted but handed Sofia over willingly enough, picking up her plate of food and letting out a noise of satisfaction as she started to eat. “Yum!”

Callie and Mark exchanged smirks and Sofia giggled Arizona’s laugh from her mother’s lap. “I love that sound,” Callie leaned over to whisper in her ear, one hand trailing lightly down the length of Arizona’s good arm. Arizona sent her a familiar look in reaction, flirtation and anticipation, but she grimaced in pain as she leaned toward Callie and the brunette sighed in dismay. “That sound, not so much,” she commented as Arizona groaned.

Sofia yawned in Callie’s arms and the cute noise drew all three of her parents’ attention. “She’s sleepy,” Mark remarked, his voice low.

“Let me get her to sleep,” requested Callie, keeping her own voice at a near whisper as she nestled Sofia closer to her chest, a warm, gentle baby breath against her neck sending a rush of sensation through her entire body.

Mark scoffed lightly, giving them a fond look. “You women are a bunch of baby hogs!”

“You get her all night.” Arizona reminded him between bites of her favorite baby corn.

They were both quiet when Callie started singing softly, the soft song inexorably dropping Sofia’s eyelids. It seemed to be having a similar effect on Arizona, the blonde finishing her dinner and setting the plate aside on the coffee table as she stretched herself out across the rest of the couch, curling her legs up next to Callie’s hip.

After a few songs, Mark rose from his seat to collect the dishes, leaving them in the sink and returning to the couch with a fresh icepack for Arizona. She gave him a curious look, but her dimples popped as she took it and put it in place against her sore ribs on the right side of her chest. “Thank you,” she whispered, blinking before her eyes slid closed.

Callie let out a deep breath as she handed a sleeping Sofia over to Mark. He retrieved the diaper bag and left the apartment quietly, not disturbing their daughter in his arms. Smiling as she looked across the couch, Callie pulled Arizona’s feet into her lap. The blonde shifted slightly in reaction, mumbling her name quietly. “Shh,” Callie coaxed, rubbing her thumbs gently into the soles of her wife’s feet. “Just be still.”

Arizona sighed in pleasure as Callie’s massage loosened her muscles, her head tossing against the arm of the couch. “You know, as good as that feels, this was not my plan for our first night off together in forever,” Arizona confessed, her voice low. “And now I’m half gimpy…” 

Callie snorted at the description, smirking. “I know, baby. Maybe if you’re really extra sweet to your doctor…”

“I am always sweet!” Arizona interjected drowsily.

The brunette smiled, thumbs rolling the arches of Arizona’s feet. “Well, maybe we can see how your ribs are feeling next week. I don’t want you straining yourself because you’re horny.”

Arizona smiled, dimples appearing. “Is there a better reason to strain myself, Calliope?”

Laughing, Callie shook her head. “I guess not, but do you really want to explain a sex injury to the Chief when you get hurt and have to take more time off work?”

One blue eye popped open and she grimaced. “Eww. _Fine_ ,” she huffed, exaggerating how put out she was. “To make it up to me, you can just keep doing that,” bargained the relaxed blonde, her eyes closing again.

“Anything you want,” Callie agreed, smiling softly.

The bluest eyes ever opened again immediately. “What if I want…”

“Not that,” Callie cut her off, shaking her head.

Arizona pouted, kicking her heels lightly against her wife’s thigh. “Callie! It’s not like I broke my right arm!” She wiggled her good hand in demonstration.

“Arizona, no,” denied the brunette insistently. “Anything else that you want. No sex until your ribs are healed.”

The blonde huffed, ignoring the fresh twinge of pain that sent through her chest. “Survive a fall and this is my reward,” she complained under her breath petulantly. “No sex. How is that fair?”

Eyes rolling, Callie smirked. “Life’s not fair, sweetheart. I’m not getting sex either, remember?” She tugged gently on Arizona’s right foot. “We can sleep late, though. And by tomorrow night, I bet you’re sick of me.” Arizona giggled and Callie tickled her toes to keep it going, though she kept her other hand on the blonde’s injured left leg to keep her from jerking it. “Just remember that you said focused and diligent is hot.”

“It is hot,” Arizona reiterated, stretching gingerly against the cushions. “And I’m not going to get sick of you in one day.” She yawned. “Talk to me next week.”

“Funny, sweetie,” agreed Callie with a laugh. “Really, very cute.”

Arizona hesitated before she spoke again, her voice more serious. “So, did you talk to Mark?”

“Yes,” the brunette answered simply, eyebrows lifting as she waited for the rest of what she knew Arizona wanted to ask.

“Did he tell you?”

“Yes.”

Arizona grumbled, poking Callie’s leg with her foot. “Callie! Just tell me!”

“You were right,” Callie relented. “I didn’t want to know what he said, but we talked and I slapped him and he apologized again.”

Arizona blinked. “You slapped him?!”

“I did,” confirmed Callie, nodding her head seriously. “Because what he… I can’t even…”

“Don’t think about it,” Arizona advised, nudging her foot into Callie’s hand again to give her something else to focus on. “Do you see why I didn’t want you to know? And thinking about it can make it hard to look at him sometimes.”

Callie squeezed her eyes closed at the reminder, breathing deeply as the throbbing in her head returned. “I’m sorry, Arizona. I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t apologize to me, not for him,” she said. “I just wants us all to be okay. For Sofia.” Callie nodded, eyes opening slowly to meet concerned blues. “So we’re all okay?” Arizona questioned.

Callie sent her a look down the couch. “You and I are wonderful.” Her wife had fallen down stairs today, was hurt, and was still worried about her. Her hands squeezed the blonde’s foot gently. “Mark’s my friend and Sofia’s father, but he and I are only okay as long as you are too.” She gave her partner a smirking smile. “We can stay mad at him for a while if you want,” she offered.

“No,” whispered the blonde. “It’s not worth starting anything over anymore. He apologized and we’re doing really good now. Fighting wouldn’t serve any purpose but hurting you and Sofia, and I’m not going to do that.” She smiled sweetly, her dimples making just the slightest impressions on her cheeks. “It’s sweet that you want to defend my honor, though.”

Shrugging, Callie squeezed her foot again, dragging her finger across the arch of Arizona’s sole. “You’re my wife, that’s what I do.” She let her fingers trail down her calf a little bit, drawing tired blue eyes.

“Is there something else?”

“Actually, yes. There’s something I don’t think I’ve ever told you and I think you should hear it,” Callie said slowly, the blonde sitting up as much as she could, tucking her good arm behind her head as a prop so she could keep eye contact and nodding when she was settled. “You said once that this wasn’t your dream…” Arizona’s mouth was open immediately. Because dreams change and, no, it wasn’t ideal, but she wouldn’t give up Sofia for anything in the world, even getting Mark out of their life.

“But you need to know that it wasn’t mine either,” Callie finished, Arizona sucking in a shocked breath and then groaning as it sent sharp pain through her bruised chest.

“What?” She needed specifics and quick.

“Mark, sweetie,” Callie clarified, seeing the imminent devastation on her wife’s face. “Mark was not in my dream either. It was always you. You and me and _our_ baby.”

Arizona sucked in a shaky breath even as she felt her heartbeat restart. “She’s _mine_ too.”

Nodding, Callie sat up and drew her partner into her arms. “You’re her mama, Arizona,” she stated. She would kill anyone who challenged that. “And you’re my wife. And there’s no way to have a baby that’s just made out of the two of us, but I never wanted it to be Mark, either. You have to believe that.”

Arizona nodded shakily, feeling as though her insides were trembling. “But she’s half him too, so I can’t hate him… Well, I mean, I _can_ , and I do when he talks about seeing you naked, but I could never hate _her_. No matter who her father is.”

“I know that, sweetheart. You love her. And she loves you. Anyone who sees you together can see it,” Callie assured her gently, squeezing her foot in her hand and rubbing her back lightly. “You’re her mother, and you’re my wife, Arizona Robbins.”

She could see the exhaustion crashing in on her and watched it come. “My wife should take me to bed,” Arizona reasoned, covering her mouth with her cast as she yawned.

“I can do that,” the brunette agreed, amused, and she shifted Arizona’s feet from her lap and stood up. “You just lean on me, okay?” She slipped an arm under Arizona’s shoulder and behind her knees, careful not to put any more pressure on the injured limb than she had to.

Arizona let out a squeal as Callie lifted her, letting her sore leg hang toward the floor. “You know, this is more carrying than leaning,” she commented, looking around as Callie moved them toward the bedroom, her good arm curling around Callie’s shoulders. “This is much hotter than leaning, though.”

“Glad you think so.” Callie smirked, bumping the door to their room open with her foot and crossing to their bed in three strides, depositing Arizona carefully. “Here you are, baby. Bed.”

The blonde stretched her arms out through the sheets, contented smile on her face. “Now that you’re all compliant and giving me what I want…”

“No sex,” Callie cut her off.

Arizona’s expression didn’t change, sleepy smile still in place. “Maybe that wasn’t what I was going to say, Callie,” she teased lightly. “Maybe I want you to get in here with me, keep me warm.”

One perfectly arched eyebrow lifted. “Are you cold?” Callie asked considerately, guiding the sheets up over Arizona, leaving it just below her breasts, though she let her hand brush lightly against Arizona’s shirt and elicited a sharp breath from the reclining woman.

“Lonely too,” answered Arizona coyly, returning her wife’s teasing touch with a little teasing of her own.

Callie smirked, shaking her head. “Ooh, you little…”

“You teased first!” Arizona countered, giggling. “And you’re the one who cut me off. I can tease if I want to!”

Callie’s mouth opened to object before she realized that it was technically true. “Arizona, you know I would…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Arizona fake-grumbled, good hand pushing back the sheets on the other side of the bed. “Just get in here already!”

“That an order?” Callie requested, slow smile on her lips.

Arizona nodded. “I’m a doctor too, you know. Dr. Robbins orders you to get in this bed and be the big spoon.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder to the empty spot behind her. “I can put it on a chart if I have to.”

Callie leaned over to press kisses to her neck as she obediently slid into her spot. “I’m the doctor, you’re the patient. It’s my orders you’ll be following,” she reminded her wife, voice soft in the dimness.

“Says you,” Arizona countered sleepily, pulling Callie’s arm around her middle as she squirmed her backside into her lover’s hips. A contended moan slipped out and she could feel Callie nuzzle into her neck. “Because the way I see it, my orders are being followed right now.” Calliope didn’t argue and Arizona smiled as she let her eyes slide closed.


End file.
